Equine veterinarians' care priorities regarding vaccination, colic, lameness and pre-purchase scenarios.

Abstract

Background: Equine veterinarians play a crucial role in maintaining equine health and ensuring client satisfaction. Understanding their perspectives on key aspects of veterinary care is essential for optimising outcomes for both clients and horses.

Objectives: To identify and compare the importance equine veterinarians place on seven key aspects of client satisfaction in equine veterinary practice (quality of care, quality of service, horsemanship, interpersonal skills, transfer of knowledge, financial aspects and professionalism) across four different scenarios.

Study design: A cross-sectional survey-based study.

Methods: A total of 246 equine veterinarians participated in the online survey, which included ranking the seven aspects of equine veterinary care across four scenarios. The data were analysed using Friedman tests to assess differences within and across scenarios, followed by Wilcoxon signed-rank tests with Bonferroni correction for post-hoc comparisons. Fisher's exact test and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to determine differences between groups of veterinarians.

Results: Quality of care was ranked most important in the colic (median rank: 1, interquartile range [IQR]: 1-2) and lameness (median rank: 1, IQR: 1-2) scenarios (p < 0.001), reflecting the critical nature of these conditions. Quality of service showed no differences in ranking across the scenarios. Professionalism was ranked significantly more important in the pre-purchase scenario (median rank: 2, IQR: 1-3) compared to other scenarios (p < 0.001). Financial aspects were consistently ranked least important (median rank: 7, IQR: 6-7, p < 0.001). No differences in ranking were found between different groups of veterinarians.

Main limitations: Participants may not accurately represent the diversity and characteristics of the entire equine veterinary population. The scenarios do not fully encompass the diversity of equine veterinary practice.

Conclusions: Equine veterinarians prioritise quality of care, quality of service and professionalism in their practice, with some variations depending on the clinical scenario. Financial aspects were consistently given the lowest priority.